In addition to electronically controlled brake systems which make available functions such as a traction controller (ABS) which prevents the wheels from locking during full braking, and a vehicle movement dynamics controller (ESC) which acts in a stabilizing fashion on the motor vehicle during dynamic driving maneuvers by means of targeted braking interventions, motor vehicles increasingly have an ambient sensor system with which other road users and non-movable obstacles can be detected and the positions or speeds thereof with respect to the driver's own vehicle can be determined.
The networking of the ambient sensor system with an electronically controlled brake system permits adaptive cruise control (ACC) with respect to the motor vehicle traveling ahead, a warning to be made to the driver when particularly critical situations occur, and automatic initiation of emergency braking if there is a risk of collision. In order to avoid incorrect interventions, such an emergency braking assistant (EBA) must intervene only at a late time, i.e. at the shortest possible distance from the obstacle, as a result of which, despite this driver assistance, in many situations a collision with the obstacle or with the other road user can only be attenuated, and not avoided, solely by braking.
There are various reasons for this:                Maintaining an ideal distance from the vehicle traveling ahead is not practicable in dense traffic.        A considerably slower vehicle cuts in from an adjacent lane.        An oncoming vehicle is overlooked at the start of an overtaking maneuver.        The distance calculation of the driver assistance system assumes the coefficient of friction of a level and dry roadway, as a result of which the braking distance on a slippery roadway is longer than the interval to the engagement time.        
In order to prevent a collision, many drivers decide on an unbraked or braked avoidance maneuver. The intuitive steering input can be too dynamic for normal drivers who only experience emergency avoidance situations rarely, and said steering input can give rise to violent vehicle reactions, in particular during the subsequent steering back process.
The genus-forming DE 10 2011 080 789 A1, which is incorporated by reference discloses a method in which the driving behavior of the vehicle is influenced as a function of surroundings data in order to assist an avoidance maneuver as soon as a risk of collision is detected using the data from one or more ambient sensors, in particular radar sensors and/or cameras, and the data from one or more vehicle sensors, in particular steering angle sensor and/or yaw rate sensor and/or wheel rotational speed sensors, wherein the vehicle has an electronically controlled brake system which permits a build up and modulation of the braking forces at the individual wheels of the vehicle independently of the driver. When a risk of collision is detected, in a first phase turning in of the driver is assisted and/or in a second phase steering of the driver is damped.